Process of and apparatus for aging liquors artificially



(Specimens.)' '2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

D. J. ETLY. PROGBSS OF AND APPARATUS FOR AGING LIQUORS ARTIIfIGIALLY. No. 590,306.- Patented Sept. 21,1897;

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(Specimens.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

D. J. ETLY. PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR AGING LIQUORS ARTIFIGIALLY. No. 590,306. Patented Sept. 21,1897.

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Anizydzvals Ammonia {k9 v NITED STATES PATENT Orrront DAVID J. ETLY, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR AGING LIQUORS ARTIFICIALLYL SPECIFICATIGN forming part of Letters Patent No. 590,306, dated September 21, 1897. A plication filed May 5, 1897. Serial No. 635,231. (Specimens.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DAVID J. ETLY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of and Apparatus for Aging Liquors Artificially; and I do declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled inthe art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawings, and to the figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

It is well known that the aging or ripening of whisky and other spirituous liquors by process of nature to the condition in which the rawness is completely eliminated and the bouquet, strength, and deep color completely developed requires several years, each year up to a certain limit adding to the good qualities of the liquor. Many processes for aging or ripening the liquor artificially, so as to save this time and the cost incident to aging by nature, have been proposed, but none of such processes in which the liquor is heated in the charred oak barrel have been successful in quickly producing from the new1y-distilled or raw liquor a liquor having the good qualities of that ripened naturally, although some of such processes have given color to the liquor and thereby added to the commercial value thereof to a sufficient extent to answer the requirements of the cheapest trade.

The object of my invention is to provide a practical process and apparatus capable of producing quickly and cheaply from the raw liquor one having all the good qualities of that which is of high grade and answers the requirements of the best trade.

The invention is based on the discovery made by me that the aging or ripening of spirituous liquors naturally is best accomplished when the liquor is subjected to the alternations of hot and cold weather, operating, respectively, to raise and lower the temperature of the liquor in the charred barrel, each of said changes of temperature operating to eliminate some and develop other characteristics or ingredients of the raw liquor, and both hot and cold temperatures being necessary to produce the palatable, strong, and aromatic liquor. It is known that heat draws out the coloring-matter in the charred oak barrel containing the liquor and colors the liquor, and I have discovered that extreme cold acts presumably on the fusel-oil to produce the bouquet or aroma and on the tannic acid to produce the smoothness and sweetness of the high-grade whisky, and also develops the brilliant color peculiar to the latter, which is not accomplished quickly when the liquor is subjected to a temperature above 32 Fahrenheit or to a constantly-varyin g temperature. As the changes of temperature in nature are gradual and variable and as the necessary cold temperature is not always obtainable and the liquor is protected in a large measure against said changes by the barrel containing it, the process of aging by nature progresses Very slowly.

It has been proposed to age liquor artificially by subjecting it to heat and then allow- .ing it to cool naturally, or to facilitate the cooling by subjecting it when hot to the action of cold air or water, and repetitions of these steps have been proposed by the-inventors, but there is no suggestion in any of such processes of the use or advantages of a freezing temperature, which is essential in the present invention, and, moreover, thorough practical tests of said processes with the apparatus disclosed for carrying the same into practical effect have demonstrated that most of them act to destroy all the good qualities of the liquor and that the best of them do no more than color the liquor, and hence they do not remove the rawness therefrom or de- Velopthe bouquet and sweetness necessary to the high-grade liquor.

In accordance with my discovery the invention resides in a process of aging whisky which consists in subjecting the same successively to the action of extremes of heat and cold artificially produced while it is contained in an air-tight receptacle, whereby, while nature is simulated and the aging effects thereof received, yet the temperatures are at extremes and completely controllable, thereby materially reducing the time required to age or ripen the whisky. The process further consists in successively raising toahigh degree artificially the temperature of a column of water located within the closed barrel containing the liquor to be aged, but unmixed with said liquor, and lowering the temperature of said water artificially to the proper temperature quickly to lower that of the liquor under treatment to or below the freezing temperature of water. The process furthermore consists in raising artificially to a high degree (say to about the boiling-point of water) the temperature of a column of water located within the receptacle containing the liquor to be aged, but unmixed with said liquor, maintaining said high temperature for aproperperiod, next shutting ofi the heating medium and converting the water into brine, and then subjecting said brine to the action of a cooling medium, such as ammonia-gas, maintaining for a proper period the low temperature thus produced, whereby the temperature of the liquor under treatment is reduced to or below 32 Fahrenheit, and repeating said steps as often as is necessary to produce a liquor of the grade desired.

The invention also consists in certain peculiarities in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts of the apparatus for carrying the above process into practical effect.

. In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of the complete apparatus applied to a barrel of whisky, the latter being shown in section. Fig. 2 is a section through the water-jacket, showing the heating and cooling pipes therein. Fig. 3 is a plan View ofthe plug that is inserted in the bottom of the water-jacket. Fig 4 is a section on the line 4 4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5 5 of Fig. 3, and Fig. 6 is an elevation of an apparatus constructed to treat liquor in several barrels at once.

The same reference-numerals designate the same parts in the several figures.

1 designates a tube constructed of copper and having its lower end closed and its upper end open, said upper end preferably terminating in a copper funnel 2. This tube is constructed to be inserted within the barrel 3, containing the whisky to be aged, and it, together with the funnel, when the latter is used, constitutes a water-jacket surrounding the pipes (hereinafter described) for conveying the mediums operating, respectively, to raise and lower the temperature of the column of water contained in said tube and funnel. Steam is preferably used as the heating medium.

4 designates a suitable source of steam-supply, and 5 a pipe which extends therefrom through said funnel 2 and to the bottom of tube 1, and 6 designates a pipe which has communication with said pipe 5 and extends upward through said tube and funnel. Said pipe 5 serves for the supply and said pipe 6 serves for the exhaust of steam. When the temperature of the column of water within the jacket is raised, the heat thereby created obviously is communicated to the liquor in the barrel and produces certain effects in the imparting of the condition of age thereto. It is necessary to prevent cooking of theliquor under treatment and advisable to maintain its temperature during the heating step of the process as nearly uniform as possible. For these reasons when steam is used as the heating medium it should be caused to flow only in sufiicient quantity through the portions of the pipes 5 and 6 within the waterjackets to raise and maintain the temperature of the water therein uniformly at or about the boiling-point. To permit complete control of the fiow' of steam through said portions of the pipes, said pipes are provided with valves 7 and 8, respectively, both of which valves are opened to a greater or less extent in the step of heating the water. Proper heating of the liquor without cooking is also insured by reason of the fact that the pipe or pipes through which the steam flows are not inserted directly in the liquor under treatment, but in a jacket containing a column of water, which water surrounds the heating-pipes and is heated thereby to impart heat to said liquor, and also for the reason that said jacket is open to the atmosphere at one end, whereby the steam, if any is generated in said jacket, will immediately escape into the atmosphere and cannot act upon the liquor under treatment to unduly raise the temperature of the said liquor.

Preferably the outer end of the exhaustpipe 6 is provided with a hose-pipe or other suitable tube 9 for conducting the water of condensation to the funnel 2, thereby automatically supplying the place of the water lost through evaporation.

1O designates a plug which is inserted in the bottom of the tube and has two separate passages 11 and 15, which preferably extend at right angles with each other and have open ends. The adjacent ends of the pipes 5 and 6 enter the ends of said passage 11, and said pipes have communication with each other through said passage. 1 p

12 designates an ammonia-compressor, 13 the valved pipe for the supply of refrigerant,

and 14 the valved pipe for the return of the cooling medium to the compressor. Eachof these pipes extends through the funnel 2 and tube 1 to the plug 10, and they respectively enter opposite ends of the continuous passage-way 15 in said plug and communicate with each other througbsaid passage. In practice I prefer to employ anhydrous ammonia as the refrigerating means, but any other suitable means capable of lowering the temperature of the liquid in the water-jacket nearly to or below the freezing-point may be used.

It would be difficult to make the plug of precisely the diameter and configuration of the interior of the tube, and therefore the danger of bursting the tube by the freezing of liquid which might get between the tube ICC and plug in such situation as to be unreached by the brine would be present if it were at tempted to insert an imperfectly-fitting plug within the tube, with no provision for a continuous space for the brine entirely surrounding the plug. Hence the plug is, as shown, made considerably smaller in diameter than said tube and is supported above the bottom of the same, so as to provide a space for water or brine surrounding it on all sides.

designates a vent-opening formed in the wall of tube 1 at a point above the level of the contents of the barrel and having communication with the atmosphere through the valved vent-pipe 21. The valve in said vent is opened for a moment only at proper intervals to relieve the pressure within the barrel during the heating process. A thermometer is applied to said tube 1 to indicate the temperature of the liquid therein and properly permit the same to be regulated.

In aging whiskyor other liquors by this apparatus and in accordance with this process the water-jacket is filled with water up to about the level indicated in Fig. 1. The steam is then turned on and the supply controlled, so as to raise the temperature of said water to about the boiling-point, and in consequence the liquor under treatment attains a temperature of between 145 and 150 Fahrenheit, and the high temperature thus produced is maintained for aproper period, say fora few hours. The steam is then shut ofi, salt is introduced within the water in said jacket in sufficient quantity to produce a strong brine, and the refrigerating medium is then forced through pipes 13 and let to lower the temperature of the brine below the freezing-point of water, and thereby lowering the temperature of the liquor under treatment to not more than about 32 and preferably to 10 Fahrenheit above zero, and this low temperature is maintained for about seventy-two hours. It will now be found that theliquor has attained a condition of color, smoothness, sweetness, and aroma suitable for cheap trade; but to produce a liquor having all the good qualities of that required by the medium or highest class of trade necessitates repetitions of the steps until the liquor has been under treatment for from fourteen to thirty days.

I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the periods above specified, as they may be varied within certain limits without departing from the spirit of the invention, but I have found that they accomplish the best results.

In treating whisky according to this process it is essential that the receptacle containing it be air-tight, or practically so, so as to prevent the evaporation of the alcohol and other ingredients of the liquor, and it is especially essential that the fusel-oil be retained in the liquor, so as to be acted upon by the cooling step to produce the bouquet. To this end the tube 1 is provided with a collar 23, which tightly closes the portion of the bunghol-e surrounding said tube and. makes the barrel air-tight at this point. It is also essential that the temperature of the cooling medium be sufficiently low to reduce that of the liquor under treatment to the freezing-point of water.

This invention has been subjected to the most severe practical tests, and it has been found that raw liquor treated by it for five days has attained adegree of ripeness which causes it to compare favorably in all respectscolor, taste, strength, aroma, and proof-with liquor two years old; that after fourteen days treatment a liquor equal in every particular to one several years old is produced, and that a very high grade of liquor is the product of thirty days treatment. It has further been found that the treatment places the liquor in such condition that it takes on a e very rapidly when laid aside after treatment.

It will be observed that by this artificial treatment there is no loss of any of the ingredients which are not eliminated by the natural process of aging, and that this process produces, in aging the liquor, identically the same effects as are produced on the liquorby nature, inasmuch as the latter is simulated very closely, the only difierence being that by this process the liquor under treatment is subjected to extremes of heat and cold and the temperatures are completely controlled by the operator.

In Fig. 6 is indicated an apparatus by which several barrels of liquor may be treated at once, with common sources of heat and cold supply. In such case the steam-supply pipe is tapped at various points by the pipes 26 for conveying the steam to the water-jacket, and the pipe 27 for the supply of anhydrous ammonia is similarly tapped by the valved pipes 28, within which the liquor becomes gas and through which the gas isconveyed' to within said jacket, and a return-pipe 29 is provided, which is likewise tapped by the valved pipes 30, which convey the gas from the jacket to said return-pipe.

While I have described the process and apparatus as being for the purpose of aging whisky, the invention is well adapted to brandies, wines, or malt liquors improved by age, and therefore I do not limit myself to its use upon whisky.

Having thus described my invention, what I believe to be new, and desire to secure by respectively,while said liquor is contained in an air-tight charred oak receptacle substantially as described.

3. The process herein described of aging liquor, consisting in raising to a high degree the temperature of a liquid column located within the receptacle containing the liquor to be treated, and in lowering the temperature of said column sufficiently to cause it to reduce that of the liquor under treatment to the freezing temperature of water, successively, substantially as described.

4. The process herein described of aging or ripening liquor artificially, consisting in raising to a high degree the temperature of a column of water located within the barrel containing the liquor to be treated, maintaining said temperature for a proper period, sh utting off the heating medium, converting said Water into brine, and subjecting saidbrine to the cooling action of a refrigerant gas to reduce the temperature of the liquor under treatment to or below the freezing temperature of water, substantially as shown and described.

5. The combination with a barrel, containing liquor to be aged, of means for successively raising and lowering the temperature of said liquor, said means consisting of a liquidcontaining jacket, insertedin said barrel, and heating and cooling pipes inserted in said jacket and surrounded by the liquid therein, substantially as shown and described.

6. The combination with a barrel, containing liquor to be aged, of a liquid-containing jacket inserted in said barrel, said jacket having an open top and a closed bottom, and

pipes for steam and refrigerant gas, inserted in said jacket and surrounded by the liquid,

therein, for successively raising and lowering the temperature ofsaid liquid, substantially as shown and described.

7. The combination with a barrel, containing liquor to be aged, of a tube for containing brine inserted directly in said liquor, pipes to be surrounded by said brine for conveying a refrigerant gas through the same, and means for forcing said gas through said pipes, substantially as shown and described.

8. The combination with a barrel, containing liquor to be aged, of the herein-described apparatus for alternately raising and lowering the temperature of said liquor to a high degree and the freezing temperature of water, respectively, consisting of the liquid-containing jacket, inserted in said barrel and having an open top and a closed bottom, valved heating-pipes inserted in said jacket and surrounded by the liquid therein, a source of steam supply connected with said pipes,

valved pipes for a refrigerant gas, also eX- tending into said jacket and surrounded by the liquid therein, a compressor connected with the latter pipes for forcing said gas therethrough, and the valved Vent-pipe in said jacket, opening at one end in said barrel and at its other end in the atmosphere, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

DAVID J. ETLY. itnesses:

CHAS. J. STOCKMAN, T. L. CLEAR. 

